Samsung hit with class action lawsuit over exploding Galaxy Note 7

It was only a matter of time and now the inevitable has happened: Samsung has been hit with a freshly filed class action lawsuit over exploding Galaxy Note 7 smartphones. The suit, filed in the state of New Jersey by John Waudby, Robert Spuntak and Mohamad Ibrahim, does not focus on any of the reported personal injuries caused by flaming phones. Instead, it seeks compensation for “economic injuries” caused by the Note 7 mess.

This is undoubtedly the first of many lawsuits that will focus on the problems surround Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 handset. The phone was first released in August and then recalled when a defect began causing some phones to spontaneously burst into flames. Samsung then issued “safe” replacement phones to customers who traded in their potentially dangerous handsets, but they too began to explode. The company was left with no choice but to discontinue the phone and offer customers a full refund or a swap for a different model.

In this particular suit, the plaintiffs allege that Samsung mismanaged the initial recall, offered confusing instructions to customers, and took too long replace potentially dangerous devices.

“Samsung has agreed to recall and reimburse the cost of the device, but their customers have had to continue to pay on their data and voice plans during the time they had to make their device inoperative until they received their replacement device,” Rich McCune, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told Motherboard. “That is the loss that the case is focused on.”